LaFonse Dixon found guilty in the murder of Celeste Fronsman

The group reassembled inside Muskingum County Common Pleas Court Thursday morning to announce their decision.

Kelly Byer

LaFonse Dixon Jr. is guilty of the grisly murder of Celeste Fronsman.

A jury convicted the 34-year-old Canton man Thursday morning on charges of aggravated murder, kidnapping and aggravated arson after about six hours deliberation that began Wednesday evening in Muskingum County Common Pleas Court.

The jury will return at 9 a.m. Tuesday to determine Dixon’s fate. He could face the death penalty, life without parole, life with the chance of parole after 30 years or life with the chance of parole after 25 years.

James Fronsman, Celeste’s father, said justice was served.

“I think it’s the best thing I’ve heard in a year,” he told The Repository in a telephone interview Thursday. The elder Fronsman was not in the courtroom for the verdict.

The elder Fronsman said his daughter told him she was going to Walmart and would be back soon when she left in his pickup the morning of Aug. 24, 2012. He knew his daughter lived on the streets and said he doesn’t want anyone to follow the same path.

“She never did come back,” he said.

The verdict comes after six days of trial and a day of closing arguments stemming from events on Aug. 26, 2012 -- the day Fronsman was found beaten, strangled and severely burned along a remote road in Muskingum County. The 29-year-old died from the injuries two days later, suffering burns on about 70 percent of her body.

Dixon and two codefendants, Katrina “KC” Culberson and Monica Washington, lit Fronsman on fire and left her to die because they believed she leaked information to police about Dixon’s drug business, according to testimony by Culberson and Washington during the trial. Culberson, Washington and Fronsman were prostitutes, and Dixon supplied them crack cocaine, according to testimony.

Lead Prosecutor Michael Haddox passionately reviewed the state’s case during closing arguments Wednesday, citing multiple pieces of corroborating evidence such as witness testimony, cellphone records and DNA that connected Dixon to the scene. He asked the jury to honor Fronsman’s desire to survive, as she crawled or walked one-third of a mile to the road and lived long enough to tell others who left her to die.

In response, defense attorney Larry Thomas said the testimony of Culberson, 22, and Washington, 25, was “rehearsed remorse.”

“If a case is built on lies, it can’t support conviction,” he told jurors Wednesday.

The Canton women testified against Dixon in exchange for plea deals. Culberson’s agreement allows her to avoid the death penalty, and the state will recommend Washington serve life with the possibility of parole after 25 years. Both await sentencing.

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